You’re probably not lacking for obvious conversation topics this week, but you might need a respite from the ones that will dominate the news cycle for the next several days.

That’s where sports comes in. A non-partisan topic that can help you steer the conversation toward something a little less serious than other storylines at hand.

Usually, I’m reminding you that you don’t have to stick to sports when using these sports conversation starters, but this week you might just want to focus on sports and these topics making news this week.

I like to have a recipe that works. It’s why my favorite cookbooks have so many dogeared corners marking my go-to meals.

It’s also why I turn to sports as my go-to conversation starter. It works every time because sports opens the door to a number of additional talking points. Did you see the note about how many Uncrustables are consumed by NFL teams? (For the record it’s my go-to snack at halftime too.) The ability to branch out and incorporate other topics is one of the reason sports small talk is a winning recipe every time. Here are a few sports headlines you can use this week:

There’s always more to sports than the game itself. Sports fans often feel a personal connection to their favorite team or player and the way they talk about their favorite team is part of their personal brand. Just a reminder to listen for more than details about the game. There is lots of personal information that comes through in sports conversations that can be useful in building business relationships.

And with that here are a few sports topics you can use to strike up conversations this week:

When it comes to small talk you don’t have to chase the conversation. Just let it come to you. If you want to initiate the interaction go ahead, but you can just as easily be in the passenger seat. Either way it’s helpful if you’re prepared with something to say.

Sports fits the bill for me and it works for a LOT of people you’ll encounter too. It’s why this list of sports conversation starters can be helpful and keep you in the loop with big storylines this week.

In sports you often hear about the dangers of “trying to do too much.” In theory working harder trying harder sounds like a good thing, but it rarely leads to the intended results.

I think you could say the same thing about small talk. Don’t try to do too much. Keep it simple, and come prepared with sports topics like these.

In business and sports we spend a lot of time talking about results and outcomes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s so much more we could incorporate into the conversation. For example, if you’re talking about the games you watched this weekend you could mention who you watched the game with or which friends you were texting with during the game.

If you’re talking about the end of the baseball season and how your team fared you could include how long you’ve been a fan of the team.

In both of those examples, one additional detail opens an entirely new conversation path and makes it easier to engage in small talk.

These sports topics can get the ball rolling.

There are a number of reasons people avoid or dread small talk. Some believe it’s a waste of time (it’s not, unless you want it to be) and others are intimidated or anxious talking to people they don’t know.

Which is a bit of a Catch-22. Small talk helps build relationships. You won’t move out of that awkward stage of getting to know people without those small interactions. Here’s how you can make things easier – look for the sports fans and ask about the game.

You probably know which colleagues follow sports and sports fans can be easy to spot when they’re wearing team/school logos. Tee up a conversation about their favorite team and you won’t need to search for what to say next. And don’t tune out because you think sports doesn’t matter at work. You’re listening for information that’s useful in follow up conversations and segues into other topics, when they’ve finished their sports comments, of course.

I always get excited for the start of the NFL season and based on the numbers I’m not the only one. The NFL averaged 21 million viewers per game during the league’s opening week last week. Those numbers are up 12% from last year.

That means even if you didn’t watch the NFL your colleagues and friends probably did. Viewership numbers will fluctuate throughout the season, but there is a huge appetite for football and the NFL.

Fans aren’t just fans on game day. They’re fans every day of the week and they often want a chance to talk about their favorite teams, players, outcome, etc… Keep that in mind if you’re looking for easy ways to start conversations this week. Get things rolling with questions like:

• Did you watch football this weekend?
• What did you think of the ______ game?

Or you can use any of the topics listed below.

For years I heard Pete Carroll say, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” It was certainly true for the Seahawks game I covered Sunday and it’s often true in small talk.

Informal interactions can be clunky, especially when few people strategize small talk. But fear not. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to make a great first impression to leave ‘em on a high note. All you need is a versatile conversation topic that leads to natural follow up conversations. Sports does that, and the topics listed below can help this week.

Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, but it’s also the start of an exciting sports month that includes NFL regular season games, playoff races in baseball and the WNBA.

That’s just a few of the things happening in sports right now that might lead to more interesting conversations than talking about family vacations. (Although that’s just a guess because sometimes the vacation stories are real doozies.) Either way, here are a list of sports topics that could come up in small talk this week.